This diary is written to make the case for the nullification of the July 2 election in Mexico, as well as to respond to a poster.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
The poster was the only person to recommend a diary which had pilloried the Demcoratic Party's sister party in Mexico, the PRD, and its centrist presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
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(i) So now it's an "insult" to take someone to task for defending a diary which berates a Centrist candidate? I was under the impression that the DailyKos champions Centrism and Progressivism. Evidently, you disagree with me.
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(ii) How can anyone argue that AMLO spent more on advertising than Calderon??!!! Where do these people get spending figures from, the IFE, the electoral body headed by Ugalde, a man who had RightWing, Science-Hating Calderon serve as a witness at his wedding?
I suggest that you reference the campaign figures cited by El Universal, which published weekly figures on nationwide media buys every Monday during the campaign.. Below you will find some of the figures.
For the week ending June 16, here are the figures they published.
AMLO...16.3 million pesos
FC.....42.6 million pesos
http://mx.invertia.com/...
For the week ending May 5, here are the figures they published.
AMLO... 8.3 million pesos
FC.....25.4 million pesos
http://mx.invertia.com/...
For the campaign through May 5, here are the figures they published.
AMLO... 112.7 million pesos
FC..... 349.5 million pesos
http://mx.invertia.com/...=
For the entire campaign, I recall, again citing figures from El Universal, that FC spent at least 2.5x as much as AMLO.
I am flummoxed that anyone would actually believe that AMLO spent more.
Dick Morris and his PANistas evidently did a great job of hoodwingking the public, not only before the election, but since the election as well, in the same way that the Swifties did in the US with the SwiftBoat campaign against Senator Kerry.
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(iii) I don't really understand your arguments justifying Fox's interference in the election. Did he, or didn't he?
On a daily basis, Fox vilified AMLO, and polarized the Mexican populace, in the same way that Rove and Bush have done in this country. (Unlike in the USA, however, Mexican law strictly prohibits presidential involvement in the presidential race). He also increased Presidential Office media spending, 1H06 over 1H05, by over 450%,
http://mx.invertia.com/...
using the ads to urge citizens to "stay the course."
Can you honestly argue that the combination of daily speeches and increased media spending did not convince 0.3% of the population to change their mind.
If all this didn't change minds, then, I ask, why do US corporations spend over US$ 250B a year in marketing, using spots very similar to those you see in political campaigns. Why is the global media market as high as US$ 550B a year?
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(iv) Interesting that you didn't address the ILLEGAL interference on the part of RightWing Biz Groups like the CCE in the campaign. According to El Universal, the CCE alone spent over 160 million pesos in a massive anti-AMLO SwiftBoat campaign over the final two weeks of the campaign.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/...
AMLO and his team asked the IFE to pull the ads immediately, but, of course, it did not.
Do you honestly believe that the CCE would have spent that much money if they did not believe it would impact the election?
Please consider the magnitude of that figure, 160 million pesos over two weeks. Assuming that FC spent the same amount of money each week as he did during the week ending June 16, (which was already 160% more than AMLO) we can surmise that FC would have spent about 85M pesos during the last two weeks of the campaign. According to El Universal, the CCE alone spent 160M additional pesos during those same two weeks.
You honestly think that this won't influence 0.3% of the population?
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(v) With respect to racism, I'm appalled by your comments. As someone who was born and raised in the US, but has spent a significant amount of time in Nuevo Leon and Mexico City, I can assure you that the problem is MUCH worse in Mexico than the US.
Chango and Indio are used pejoratively by many light-skinned Mexicans to refer to darker-skinned ones. I'm light skinned, and I can't even begin to count the many times I was around other light-skinned Mexicans when they used racist terminology when referring to mestizos.
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(vi) With respect to your recommendation of this diary (referring to the original diary), how can any Centrist or Progressive recommend a diary which, in part, reads...
"Then his political and mediatical machinery will begin to roll, and they will roll over the Lopez Obrador movement, which will little by little be forgotten by the media, as already mr. obrador is losing his mediatic allure."
Please recall that AMLO is the Centrist candidate in the race, the politician whose platform mirrors that of the Democratic Party. Recommending this diary is akin to, in early December 00, recommending a diary that described Bush rolling over Gore, and precipitating his political death.
In summary, this election should have been annulled on July 3, given the less than 0.6% difference between the two candidates, and the fact that the ILLEGAL interference by Fox and the RightWing Biz Group's SwiftBoat campaign influenced 0.3% of the population to change their mind, from the Centrist candidate to the RightWing candidate.
Anyone who believes in the Rule of Law in Mexico must support Nullification.